The Unmet Medical Needs of Current Injectable Antidiabetic Therapies in China: Patient and Health Care Professional Perspectives.

PURPOSE: Patients with diabetes and health care professionals (HCPs) play important roles in effective application of injectable antidiabetic therapies (IATs). However, their concerns and opinions on IATs are rarely investigated in China. This study aims to assess unmet medical needs of IATs regarding patient concerns, patient satisfaction, aspects that need improvement, and training burden from patient and HCP perspectives. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in 12 representative Chinese cities from December 2018 to January 2019. Patients with adult type 2 diabetes who were receiving IAT currently and had received IAT continuously for at least 1 month before the survey, endocrinologists with ≥5 years of experience and prescribing IAT in the past 1 month, and nurses with ≥3 years of experience and providing IAT training in the past 1 month were eligible participants. The patient survey assessed concerns of initiating IAT, satisfaction with IAT, aspects of IAT that need improvement, and IAT training received. The HCP survey evaluated patient concern of initiating IAT, aspects of IAT that need improvement, experience of providing IAT training, and self-reported burden of training. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. FINDINGS: In total, 500 patients, 200 endocrinologists, and 100 nurses were surveyed. The mean (SD) age of patients was 55.1 (11.8) years, with a disease duration of 7.6 (6.4) years. Of all patients, 391 (78.2%) were insulin users and 109 (21.8%) were glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist users. Of the top 4 concerns about initiating IAT, both patients and endocrinologists reported inconvenience of daily injection (58.0% of patients and 68.5% of endocrinologists), worries about insulin dependence (42.6% of patients and 62.5% of endocrinologists), and fear of injection (37.0% of patients and 66.5% of endocrinologists). Medical expenses, convenience of drug portability and storage, and injection site reactions were the top 3 aspects that need improvement according to both patients and HCPs. High injection frequency was also one of the most urgent aspects for improvement (mean urgency score, 3.8 for physicians and 4.0 for nurses). A typical IAT training session took a mean (SD) of 14.1 (9.7) minutes. Both patients and HCPs considered injection operation after dose is set and symptoms and treatment for adverse effects as the 2 most time-consuming training contents. In addition, 97.1% of endocrinologists who provided training and 97.0% of nurses thought a more user-friendly IAT would reduce their training burden. IMPLICATIONS: Study results indicate that the IATs with more convenient drug portability and storage, fewer injection site reactions and adverse events, less injection frequency, more user-friendly design, and fewer steps for injection might help improve patient experience with self-injection and reduce HCPs' training burden.

Epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and risk factors for mortality of early- and late-onset invasive candidiasis in intensive care units in China.

To identify the epidemiology, treatments, outcomes, and risk factors for patients with early- or late-onset invasive candidiasis (EOIC or LOIC) in intensive care units in China.Patients were classified as EOIC (≤10 days) or LOIC (>10 days) according to the time from hospital admission to IC onset to identify distinct clinical characteristics.There were 105 EOIC cases and 201 LOIC cases in this study. EOIC was related to more severe clinical conditions at ICU admission or prior to IC. Significantly, more cases of Candida parapsilosis infection were found in patients with LOIC than in those with EOIC. The mortality of EOIC was significantly lower than that for LOIC. Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score at ICI diagnosis in the EOIC group and the interval from ICU admission to ICI occurrence in the LOIC group were identified as risk factors for mortality. Susceptibility to the first-line agent was associated with a lower risk of mortality in the LOIC group.The mortality rate was significantly lower in the EOIC group, and there were more cases of non-albicans infection in the LOIC group. Susceptibility to the first-line agent was an important predictor of mortality in the LOIC group. SOFA score at ICI diagnosis in the EOIC group and interval from ICU admission to ICI occurrence in the LOIC group were identified as risk factors for mortality.